listen.

ONE NIGHT ONLY AND THAT NIGHT IS TONIGHT

full disclosure: I work for Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardottir a.k.a. Shoplifter receives studio space for this project as part of the LMCC space grant program in which I work, Swing Space.

That being said, I wouldn't be any less excited about this if I were a stranger off the street.  Shoplifter creates stunning sculptures out of, among other materials, human and synthetic hair (as seen on Björk on the cover of her Medulla album), and she is currently collaborating with wunderkind composer (okay, so he's like 26 or something, maybe no longer a "kind") Nico Muhly, who has arranged/composed/conducted for three of my favorite musicians: Björk, Antony and the Johnsons, and Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

Together, Shoplifter and Mr. Muhly are creating a performance for The Kitchen, March 7 and 8.  Only the 10pm performance on the 7th has tickets left, so ACT FAST if you want to see it, and I highly recommend you do.

Tonight (Thursday 2/28) at 6pm, LMCC is hosting a low-key little Open House at Shoppy's studio to preview the installation pieces she's been creating for next week's performance.  Nico will be there as well, along with violist Nadia Sirota -- they'll be demonstrating some of the music from the performance.  And there will be wine.  And snacks.  You should come if you can. Here are more details.

You can give Nico's music a listen here on the New Yorker's website; it's all quite good, of course, but I particularly recommend checking the "Keep In Touch" section, featuring vocals from Antony.

And as if all this wasn't enough to excite you, Nico and Shoppy are also working with Sam Amidon, who will be playing banjo and singing at next week's performance.  Sam, of course, is a brilliant musician in his own right, and lately I've been really digging his newest album, All Is Well.  Here are a couple gorgeous tracks from it.  (And if you missed my earlier post on his Head Over Heels cover, remedy that immediately.)

Sam Amidon - Saro
Sam Amidon - Fall On My Knees

Still not enough?  Okay fine. I'll give you more. Here's a clip of Sam performing in Paris with Nico on piano.

see you tonight?

>ben

Sigur Rós - Hvarf/Heim

talk about a post i have been meaning to do for a couple of months!
the new sigur ros came out around NOV 6, 2007 (or maybe ON that date? i'm not sure, nor do you care)

so here's the deal - stop me if you've heard this (and by stop me i mean skim this paragraph) it's a two disc album (and in case you fancy buying from a record store: it's got very aesthetically pleasing packaging.)   Hvarf, the first disc consists of sigur ros revisiting songs from their "cannon." the second disc, heim, is live recordings from their free icelandic tour -- it had stops like this:

where you saw them do this:

and this:

these images are from Heima, their new film (and companion to this album), which is out now.  for a while you could write to their myspace page and set up a screening of the film.  wouldn't that be awesome?
anyway - this album is AMAZING. i must admit that Heim is definitely my favorite (but PLEASE don't tell Hvarf.)

so, i am going to share a few tracks. and then you should go buy the album.  you won't regret it.

from heim:

Samskeyti

it's like an amazing wave. i want a symphony to explode with music at the end -- like in the end of rhapsody in blue.

Agaetis Byrjun

so acoustic - so beautiful.

from hvarf:

von

it's an opera.

so now that you've sampled the music, you may be thinking: "okay, i want to buy this - but how shall i best enjoy this music?" well, look no further! here are several ways i think you can best enjoy said music:

• in a beautiful, damp-green icelandic field wearing a really pretty wool sweater with ruddy cheeks.
• riding your bicycle on the west side highway bike path  (wearing a helmet and not playing it too loud, of course)
• stoned in a dance/movement studio
• walking to work in the morning
• underscoring in a movie that has a scene were the fabric of the universe rips open leading to a parallel world.

enjoy.